Rising tumor markers but clean pet scan

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Reneeswan
Reneeswan Member Posts: 60
edited February 2018 in Stage IV/Metastatic Breast Cancer ONLY

I was wondering if anyone has had a 3-4 month rise in tumor markers, but your pet scan was fine. My tumor markers increased from 49 to 86 over last 4 months. Tumor markers have been very accurate for me in the past. My oncologist ordered a pet scan, and it showed no cancer.

My question is do I stay with the current treatment, or is it time to think about a change in treatment. I have an appt with my onc. in 10 days and would like to have the right questions in ready.


Thank you

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  • blainejennifer
    blainejennifer Member Posts: 1,848
    edited February 2018

    I've had this scenario go both ways. In one instance, the rising TMs were probably caused by a viral illness*. But, sadly for me, most of the time it indicates that there's cancer brewing that the PET can't detect yet. Depending on your machine, the PET can't really visualize anything under 5mm**, due to the thickness of the imaging "slices".

    But even in the last case, it can take months for the PET to catch up with the TMs, so it's not an emergency. One time, it was 7 months as the TMs slowly inched up till the scan showed what was going on.

    In our world, you should always be musing on what your next treatment protocol might be. Most of the time, each treatment will cease to be effective at some point, and it is back to playing cancer whack-a-mole.

    You and your MO should have a talk about their ideas for your future treatments. FYI: I have been turned down for several trials due to my extensive treatment, so I'm encouraging all you folk who are at three treatments or less to talk to your MO about trials.

    Jennifer

    * I have also heard that arthritis, a bone fracture, any illness that causes a fever, or an immune reaction that creates inflammation can skew a CA 27-29 reading.

    ** I could be wrong about the size, but am too tired/lazy/cranky to look up the correct information. Forgive me.

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  • pajim
    pajim Member Posts: 2,785
    edited February 2018

    Reneeswan, I mostly agree with Blainejennifer. Probably your tumor burden is growing [very slowly]. I have been through this although in my case the markers were good but the scans started to get equivocal. Up and down, actually. We just scanned every three months until we were sure it was time to move on. That ended up being a full year later. [the markers eventually started to rise] I felt like that was a free year.

    Are you feeling OK? Do you have more symptoms?

    I see this world as there's a finite number of treatments and I wouldn't give up on one until it was really necessary. [or really bad side-effects]. Your tumor markers aren't really very high. In addition, each new treatment comes with more side-effects (which are also to be avoided if possible)

    What about sitting tight for 3-4 months then having another scan? I realize that could be stressful, but if you can manage the stress you'd get more time. [Disclaimer -- I have no idea whether that equates to more time in life but it certainly can delay chemo] The treatment is at least partially working.

    Good luck with whatever you decide.

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